Connectors for terminating electrical wires have most often required the wire ends to be pushed into openings in one end of the connector until they contact an abutment within the connector. Telescoping parts have been moved together to force the wires into a contact element to complete the electrical connection. A waterproof grease is frequently provided between the telescoping parts to make the final connection water resistant. Such connectors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,573,723 and 3,656,088. It has been found that users of such connectors sometimes do not insert the wire ends far enough into the connectors and electrical connection is not made when the parts are moved together. Also, it has been found that occasionally plastic wire insulation stretches sufficiently that it extends beyond the conductor so that even though the wire end is inserted into the connector against the abutment, only the wire insulation is forced into the contact element and again the wire connection is not made.
The wire connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,767 has eliminated the foregoing problems by providing for extending the wire through the connector and severing the wire within the connector as the parts are telescoped together to make connection to the wires. However, in the connector of that patent the wire connector element and the cut-off blade are all part of a single piece of metal which must be of a copper alloy to make proper electrical connection to the wires. It has been found with the larger wire sizes the wire severing ability of the material which must be used for the wire connection is not as great as would be desired. Moreover, reliance on strain relief by the plastic parts as in the connector of the patent has also been less than desired for some applications.